Magnifier selection and use comes up here and on other coin forums frequently enough that I have to wonder if a 45 minute seminar at a major show on "Selection and Use of Magnifiers" would be valuable and/or well attended. It seems like such a mundane skill, but my gut is telling me that a lot of people don't know what they need and don't know how to use it. Thoughts?
That's an interesting thought, I went through quite a few magnifiers starting out, until I found an Edmunds scientific eye piece. It is somewhere around 4 to 6X power, but can be adjusted. It is very clear, and with out distortion.
I think it a fine idea, but can't help but to wonder if something like this would be more helpful and/or valuable if done online?
Most seem to concentrate on magnification, but as, if not more, important is degree of flatness over the objective field and the mount of color diffraction. A triplet or apochromatic is more expensive but if one is dealing mainly with toned coins, it will give more accurate color registration than a achromatic doublet ( or heaven help a singlet simple magnifying glass as for reading). Some spend $ 50 on ebay for a suspected DD, but only wants to spend $10 on a magnifier.
Yes and no. An online presentation would reach a lot of people, but wouldn't allow for Q&A or instructor-guided hands-on learning, trying out a few different devices. The feedback from an in-person seminar would also be valuable in making a good online version.
Excellent points I hadn't taken the time to consider; thank you. Perhaps doing both, as you seem to allude to, really would offer the best of both words (so to speak), but either way I do think it a fine idea any way we look at it.